The present invention relates to a cover material for a steering wheel of a vehicle such as an automobile, a motorboat or the like, and to a method of manufacturing the cover material.
Referring first to FIG. 20 of the attached drawings, there is shown a conventional steering wheel 1 for a vehicle such a- automobile, a motorboat or the like. The steering wheel 1 has an inner hub 2a and an outer rim 2b which are connected by one or more spokes 8. The outer rim 2b may be thought of as having side surface 5 and 6 extending between an inner surface 3 and an outer surface 4. It is to be noted that, although rim 2b illustrated in FIG. 20 has a circular cross-section it may instead have a rectangular or polygonal cross-section. It is further to be noted that, although rim 2b illustrated in FIG. 20 is substantially circular and continuous, the rim may be oblong or of another arcuate shape, and may be divided into two or more sections.
Conventionally, a cover material of the kind referred to above has been manufactured in the following manner. A material such as natural leather, synthetic leather or cloth is first cut into a web-like or strip-like shape having a length substantially identical with an outer surface 4 of a steering wheel rim and a width equal to the circumference of the rim. The strip-like material is wrapped about the steering wheel rim so that the longitudinal edges of the strip-like material abut each other on a center line of the inner surface of the rim, and are sewn or bonded to each other. Thus, the cover material is wrapped about the entire steering wheel rim.
Since the inner surface of the rim has a slightly smaller diameter than the outer surface, ruffling is applied to both the longitudinal edges of the strip-like material to conform to the reduced diameter of the inner surface of the rim. Ruffling must be uniform over the entire lengths of the longitudinal edges of the strip-like material, which requires much time and skill, and adds to the cost of covering the steering wheel rim.
Furthermore, the above-described conventional cover material has the following disadvantage. As shown in FIG. 21 the ends 704 of the strip-like material 701 are cut substantially perpendicularly to edges 702 and 703. Accordingly, when the cover 701 is wrapped around the steering wheel rim a triangular gap 706 results as shown in FIG. 22. Additional time and expense is required to fill the gap 706.
It is an object of the invention to provide a cover material for a steering wheel of a vehicle, which is capable of overcoming the aforesaid disadvantages.
It is another object of the invention to provide a method of manufacturing a cover material for a steering wheel of a vehicle, which is capable of overcoming the aforesaid disadvantages.